COFES Internships

Cyon Research strongly supports the development of the future leaders of the engineering software industry through its long running internship program.  For COFES, interns at COFES get a unique opportunity to rub shoulders with industry leaders.

Interns are usually PhD candidates who are invited to participate in the event as equal attendees. PhD candidates must be prepared to submit a draft summary of their thesis statement prior to COFES. PhD candidate interns typically arrive at COFES a couple of days early and we work them hard getting the event ready, but once the event starts, their duties are over and they are otherwise indistinguishable from our other attendees (other than age, perhaps).

Cyon Research does have a limited number of openings for highly motivated students who are not yet at the PhD level. As with "Interns" these candidates must be considered by their professors to be the best and brightest - future leaders in our field. We invite these students to work with us to help put on COFES. In exchange they get to rub elbows with current industry leaders and they get to listen and see what is going on during the event. We give them the label "Staff" -- they are not attendees; they will be working while the event is going on.

The last few years have seen our Internship program grow and our next COFES is no exception! This year we have made available a couple more intern opportunities. If you are a professor to, or are involved with an exceptional student who would benefit from a COFES internship, please contact Brad Holtz to discuss the opportunity.

When you apply for an internship at http://apply.cofes.com/, be sure to indicate whether this is for a PhD internship or for a Staff internship.

Testimonial

Dear Future COFES Intern;

COFES provides an exceptional opportunity for a student or young professional interested in the future of engineering software, and is unlike any other commercial or academic conference you'll attend. Here are a few reasons why:

COFES attracts the best and the brightest.
You will meet engineers, designers, and business people with deep knowledge of the engineering software industry. These are the top people. Not only do they make the software, but they make the business decisions that set the direction of the industry.

COFES is about personal interaction, not sales and marketing.
The conference is organized so that you get to spend as much one-on-one time with other experts in the field as possible. The conversations are all about sharing knowledge – you won't find any marketing pitches here.

COFES is dynamic.
Don't expect a collection of canned presentations! When you put twenty smart people in a room together, things go where they want to go. The dynamic of conversations is deeply engaging.

Volunteering as a conference intern provided me with the opportunity to connect with industry experts right away. Even before the conference had started, I had the opportunity to sit down with some of the early pioneers of engineering software. I worked along side incredibly talented students from other universities to help setup the event, had great fun and made friendships along the way. The conversations and connections I made were of relevance not only to my academic research, but to my professional development as well.

I eagerly await the next COFES conference, and hope to see you there.

Sincerely,
Davis M. Marques
Graduate Student
Simon Fraser University
COFES Intern 2007

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